[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6684 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6684

To require the Comptroller General to submit a report on the disclosure 
 process for intellectual property created under a Federal grant, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 7, 2023

 Mr. Neguse (for himself and Mr. Flood) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Comptroller General to submit a report on the disclosure 
 process for intellectual property created under a Federal grant, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Efficiency to Increase 
Competition Act''.

SEC. 2. GAO STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF BAYH-DOLE ACT REGULATIONS ON 
              CONTRACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall brief the relevant committees, with a report to follow on a 
mutually agreed upon date that is not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, that reviews the implementation of 
chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code, (commonly referred to as 
the Bayh-Dole Act), specifically with regard to the requirements under 
that chapter and implementing regulations that a contractor under a 
funding agreement with the Federal Government must follow with regard 
to patent disclosure. The report shall include, to the extent 
practicable, information on the following:
            (1) The percentage of inventions that are not elected by 
        contractors to retain within the time period provided following 
        the disclosure of an invention under part 401 of title 37, Code 
        of Federal Regulations.
            (2) After any automatic extension has been granted and in a 
        case in which a contractor requests an additional extension, 
        the number of time extensions that are granted by Federal 
        agencies for disclosure, election, and filing and the average 
        response time by each agency for any such extension.
            (3) How the reporting requirements in such chapter impact 
        the ability of a contractor to compete with foreign 
        competitors.
            (4) How the Government uses Federal reporting under such 
        chapter by contractors and suggested improvements to ensure 
        there is an improved public-private partnership.
            (5) Barriers that Federal reporting requirements create for 
        contractors to develop inventions.
            (6) The time and effort institutions of higher education 
        must use for the management and reporting required under such 
        chapter, including--
                    (A) input from contractors with various sizes, 
                budgets, geographical positions, and specialties;
                    (B) with respect to any institution of higher 
                education included in the report, a consideration of 
                the specific research designations for such 
                institution, including R1 and R2; and
                    (C) how such contractors vary on the their ability 
                to efficiently comply with the requirements under such 
                chapter.
            (7) Difficulties contractors encounter in using the iEdison 
        system and recommendations to address these difficulties.
            (8) If any other Federal agency does not use the patent 
        reporting system deployed by the National Institute of 
        Standards and Technology, commonly known as iEdison, whether 
        such agency would benefit from using a singular standard 
        Federal reporting system and whether such agency can 
        effectively standardize reporting requirements in order to 
        streamline processes required by contractors.
            (9) The number of disclosure systems used throughout the 
        Federal Government, listed by what system is used by each 
        Federal agency, and the various disclosure requirements made by 
        each such agency.
    (b) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Ability.--The term ``ability'' means time, resources, 
        staff, and any other metric determined necessary for compliance 
        under the contract requirements described in the Bayh Dole Act, 
        including any regulation issued under such Act.
            (2) Contractor; federal agency; funding agreement.--The 
        terms ``contractor'', ``Federal agency'', and ``funding 
        agreement'' have the meaning given those terms in section 201 
        of title 35, United States Code.
            (3) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1001).
            (4) Relevant committees.--The term ``relevant committees'' 
        means the following:
                    (A) The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
                Representatives.
                    (B) The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
                of the House of Representatives.
                    (C) The Committee on Education and the Workforce of 
                the House of Representatives.
                    (D) The Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
                    (E) The Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                Transportation of the Senate.
                    (F) The Committee on Health, Education, Labor and 
                Pensions of the Senate.
                                 <all>